1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connected nail supplying mechanism for a nailing machine, which successively supplies connected nail assemblies to a nail ejection part thereof, from a magazine which contains a plurality of connected nail assemblies, each connected nail assembly consisting of a series of nails, which are arranged in side-by-side relationship and connected together by a synthetic resin or paper tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connected nail assembly including a number of interconnected nails is generally used for a nailing machine which is powered by a compressed air or the like. Depending on the type of nail connection, the connected nail assembly is categorized into two known types. One is a coiled connected nail assembly in which a number of nails are connected by a flexible coupling member and rolled into a coil shape, and the other is a linear connected nail assembly in which nails are connected by a coupling member whose rigidity is large. A nailing machine using the coiled connected nail assembly needs a cylindrical magazine for accommodating nails therein. Normally the cylindrical magazine is wider than a main body of the nailing machine tool. This wider magazine is disposed near a nose portion of the machine as a nail ejection portion. Accordingly, the magazine thus disposed makes it difficult for the user to view a nail driving position when the nailing machine is operated and operatability is deteriorated.
In the nailing machine using the linear connected nail assembly in which nails are linearly arranged and connected, the width of the magazine containing the connected nail assemblies may be reduced. Accordingly, the nailing machine has an advantage that a driving position is easily viewed from a side of the magazine; hence the operatability is improved. In the linear connected nail assembly, the number of nails of the linear connected nail assembly for each unit is smaller than that in the coiled connected nail assembly. Accordingly, it is necessary to frequently replenish the connected nail assemblies to the magazine. A nailing machine designed so as to lessen the work for replenishing a connected nail assembly is also known. A magazine of the machine is long so as to accommodate a number of linear connected nail assemblies in a series fashion. The long magazine, when mounted, projects long to the rear side of the nailing machine main body. This makes it difficult to handle the nailing machine, and the operatability is impaired. The linear magazine employs a mechanism in which a connected nail assembly having been loaded into the magazine is pushed toward the nose portion by pressing the trailing end of the connected nail assembly. Where a number of connected nail assemblies are loaded into the long magazine, a pressing force of the compressed spring, a fixed output spring or the like decreases, so that the nail supplying is unreliable.
To solve the above problems of the magazine containing a plurality of linear connected nail assemblies, there is proposed a linear-connected nail assembly magazine and feeding mechanism in which a plurality of linear connected nail assemblies are juxtaposed in the magazine, and a plurality of linear connected nail assemblies are successively supplied to the driving portion. A related technique is disclosed in JP-A-59-209773. According to the disclosure in JP-A-59-209773, the connected nail supplying mechanism includes a fixed guide wall formed continuous to a nose part forming a nail ejection opening, a nail supplying path defined by a movable guide wall, which is movable with respective to the fixed guide wall in an opening/closing manner, and a box type magazine, located on the rear side of the nail supplying path, in which a plurality of connected nail assemblies are placed in side-by-side relation. In the connected nail supplying mechanism, the connected nail assemblies that are pressed against a guide surface being flush with the fixed guide wall are successively supplied to the nail ejection opening, through the reciprocating motion of a nail feeding member along the fixed guide wall.
The technique of JP-A-59-209773 uses a box-type magazine wide enough to accommodate two or more number of connected nail assemblies being arrayed in side-by-side relation. Within the magazine, the connected nail assemblies are pressed against the fixed guide wall that is provided along one side of the magazine. Those connected nail assemblies are successively thrust to the nail ejection portion, through an opening formed in the front end of the fixed guide wall. The connected nail assemblies having been pressed against the fixed guide wall within the magazine are brought into engagement with the feeding member, which are reciprocatively moved along the fixed guide wall, and are fed out through the opening. In the mechanism, the connected nail assembly on the fixed guide wall is pressed between the fixed guide surface and the connected nail assembly adjacent thereto by the pressing force. As a result, a resistance for impeding the feeding of the connected nail assembly is considerably large, and there is a great possibility that the interference with the adjacent connected nail assembly makes it impossible for the feeding member to feed the connected nail assembly. Therefore, measures have been taken for avoiding the interference of the adjacent connected nail assemblies. In a measure, the heads of the connected nail assemblies are put in the guide grooves formed within the magazine and guided so as to maintain a large space between the connected nail assemblies. In another measure, a thickness of a connecting strip which integrally connects the nails is increased, and the connecting strips are brought into contact with each other or the connecting strip is brought into contact with the nail shank, thereby increasing the space between the connected nail assemblies. However, in these measures, additional problems arise such that the size and weight of the magazine, and cost to manufacture are increased since the space between the connected nail assemblies within the magazine is large.
Further, in the conventional magazine according to JP-A-59-209773, pressing means is provided which presses a plurality of connected nail assemblies located within a box type magazine against the guide surface. The connected nail assemblies within the magazine are constantly pressed by the pressing means. To load the connected nail assembly into the magazine, the connected nail assembly is inserted into the magazine, through an opening formed in the rear end of the magazine. In this case, a loading resistance of the connected nail assembly is large because of presence of the urging force by the urging means. Accordingly, it is difficult to fully load the connected nail assembly up to the loading position (at which the foremost nail of the connected nail assembly is placed at the front end of the magazine). Particularly, when the connected nail assembly is pulled out of the magazine during the nailing operation and the number of nails contained in the connected nail assembly is reduced, the foremost nail of the connected nail assembly is located at a position before the loading position.
In this state, the connected nail assembly is out of the reciprocating operation range of the feeding member. Accordingly, there is a chance that after the preceding connected nail assembly is used up, the supply of the subsequent connected nail assembly is impossible.
On the other hand, there is proposed a nailing machine as disclosed in JP-A-2-269581. In the proposal, a plurality of connected nail assemblies are put in a magazine, and those connected nail assemblies are successively supplied to a nail ejection part. The proposal succeeds in reducing the number of operations for replenishing a connected nail assembly.
The conventional art according to JP-A-2-269581 as a connected nail supplying mechanism includes a fixed guide wall formed continuous to a nose portion forming a nail ejection opening, a nail supplying path defined by a movable guide wall, which may be turned with respect to the fixed guide wall in an opening/closing manner, and a box type magazine, located on the rear side of the nail supplying path, in which a plurality of connected nail assemblies are placed in side-by-side relation. In the connected nail supplying mechanism of the conventional art, the connected nail assemblies disposed along the fixed guide wall are successively supplied to the nail ejection opening of the nose portion, through the reciprocating motion of a nail feeding member which has been advanced into the nail supplying path. The connected nail supplying mechanism includes a connected nail assembly pressed against a fixed guide surface, which is spaced from a nail supplying path surface of the fixed guide wall by a predetermined distance, a separator member which is movable between the adjacent nails of the connected nail assemblies, and a feeding clamp which is provided on the fixed guide wall and urged into the nail supplying path. The connected nail assembly is clamped with the feeding clamp and supplied to the nail ejection opening. Additionally, a check pawl for checking the reverse movement of the connected nail assembly is urged, by means of a spring, to advance to the nail supplying path, from the fixed guide wall.
As discussed above, JP-A-2-269581 discloses another technique. In the technique, a separator which operates interlocking with the nail feeding member is thrust to between the connected nail assembly pressed against the fixed guide wall and the connected nail assembly adjacent thereto within the box type magazine, thereby eliminating the trouble, e.g., the increase of the strip feeding resistance caused by the interference between the connected nail assemblies. However, the separator, together with the feeding member, must be driven so that it advances into the magazine from the front outside of the box type magazine. This results in complexity of the structure, and hence will cause troubles and increase the cost to manufacture.
In the conventional art, the magazine must be shaped like a box and have a fixed width in order to accommodate a plurality of connected nail assemblies, and the thus configured magazine accommodates a plurality of connected nail assemblies. In the connected nail assembly used for this type of a nailing machine, a number of nails are generally connected in a state that those are arranged on a plane and the heads of the nails overlap. Where the connected nail assemblies loaded are placed in side-by-side relation within the magazine, the nail heads of the adjacent connected nail assemblies overlap and come in engagement with each other. As a result, the movement of the connected nail assemblies in the nail feeding direction is interrupted. For this reason, the width of the connecting strip is increased or the separator is advanced between the connected nail assemblies as disclosed in the conventional art, thereby preventing the interference between the nail heads of the connected nail assemblies. Thus, in the conventional magazine, the width dimension of the magazine is large, the related mechanism is complicated, and the weight thereof is increased.
Specifically, in the conventional art according to JP-A-2-269581, the separator and the feeding clamp, which cooperatively operate, are confronted with each other with the nail supplying path being interposed therebetween. The feeding clamp, together with the separator, is mounted on the nail feeding drive mechanism. The feeding clamp is urged, by a spring force, so as to be brought into close contact with the separator by a spring force. Accordingly, even in a state that the movable guide wall is put in an open state, the feeding clamp clamps the connected nail assembly in the nail supplying path, and it checks the backward movement of the connected nail assembly. For this reason, in a case where, during the nailing work, the connected nail assembly currently used is replaced with another connected nail assembly different in size from that of the former, in order to remove the connected nail assembly staying in the nail supplying path, the user must pull backward the connected nail assembly in a state that the feeding clamp and the check pawl are retracted from the nail supplying path while resisting the spring urging force. For the removal of the connected nail assembly, the nailing machine must be put on a stable place, and both hands must be used. Therefore, it is impossible to replace the connected nail assembly with another at an unstable place, e.g., nailing scaffold.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a connected nail supplying mechanism for a nailing machine which allows the user to simply make the replacement and replenishment of a connected nail assembly even during the nailing work.
Further, a second object of the present invention is to provide a nail supplying mechanism for a nailing machine, which does not need a box type magazine whose weight is indispensably large, allows a plurality of connected nail assemblies to be loaded into the magazine with the nail heads of them overlapping with each other, allows the space between the loaded connected nail assemblies to be reduced, and is capable of successively supplying a plurality of connected nail assemblies to the nail driving portion.
Accordingly, a third object of the present invention is to provide a connected nail supplying mechanism for a nailing machine which enables the user to reliably load the connected nail assembly into the magazine even if the number of nails in the connected nail assembly is smaller than a prescribed one.
To achieve the above first object, there is provided a nailing machine having a nose portion including a nail ejection opening, which slidably receives a driver powered by a compressed air or the like, and a magazine loaded with connected nail assemblies. The machine drives out, by the driver, nails that are fed from the magazine to the nail ejection opening through a nail introducing opening formed in a side surface of the nail ejection opening. The nailing machine is characterized by a nail supplying mechanism in which the magazine includes a linear nail guide surface being continuous to the nail introducing opening and having a shoulder for supporting the nail heads of the connected nail assembly, and a movable guide wall being confronted with the guide surface. In the magazine, a plurality of connected nail assemblies are loaded and placed in side-by-side relation, while being in contact with each other, between the nail guide surface and the movable guide wall. The plurality of connected nail assemblies are pressed against the guide surface of the magazine by means of a pressing portion provided on the movable guide wall. The movable guide wall is turned, for opening and closing, between a position being confronted with the nail guide surface of the magazine and a position at which the nail guide surface is opened.
Further, to achieve the above second object, there is provided a nail supplying mechanism in which a magazine having a linear nail guide surface which is continuous to a nail introducing opening and includes a shoulder for supporting the nail heads of a connected nail assembly, and a pressing portion for pressing against the nail guide surface of the magazine, a plurality of connected nail assemblies being loaded and placed in side-by-side relation, while being in contact with each other, along the nail guide surface of the magazine, are both confronted with the nail guide surface of the magazine.
Further, according to the invention, there is provided a nail supplying mechanism in which a magazine having a linear nail guide surface which is flush with the fixed guide surface and continuous to a nail introducing opening. The guide surface of the magazine includes a shoulder extending to the connected nail assembly feeding direction, the shoulder being for supporting the lower side of the nail heads of a first connected nail assembly disposed along the guide surface, and a pressing portion elastically presses the first connected nail assembly disposed along the guide surface and a second connected nail assembly loaded and placed in side-by-side relation against the fixed guide surface. The pressing portion is confronted with the guide surface of the magazine, and the pressing portion includes a head-supporting member for supporting the lower side of the nail heads of the second connected nail assembly.
Further, according to the invention, there is provided a nail supplying mechanism in which the rear end of the pressing portion is positioned ahead the rear end of the magazine.
Additionally, according to the invention, there is provided a nail supplying mechanism which further includes:
a nail feeding member which passes through the fixed guide wall of the nose portion to advance to the fixed guide surface, and is reciprocatively moved, and engages the individual nails of connected nail assembly disposed along the fixed guide surface and supplies the individual nails to the nail ejection opening;
a check member engaging the nails of the connected nail assembly disposed along the fixed guide surface to block the backward movement of the connected nail assembly, the check member including a seizing pawl member engaging the nails of the second connected nail assembly to block the backward movement of the second connected nail assembly, thereby seizing and holding the second connected nail assembly at the loading position wherein the seizing pawl member is located ahead the rear end of a reciprocating stroke of the nail feeding member; and
a stopping face for stopping the second connected nail assembly at a position at which the nail shank of the first nail of the second connected nail assembly is positioned ahead of the seizing pawl member.
According to the invention, there is provided a nail supplying mechanism which further includes:
an opening/closing guide member being supported on the nose portion in an opening/closing fashion, and confronted with the fixed guide surface of the nose portion; and
a magazine cover being supported on the magazine in an opening/closing fashion behind the opening/closing guide member, and confronted with the fixed guide of the magazine;
wherein the pressing portion are provided on the opening/closing guide member and the magazine cover, and the seizing pawl member is provided on the pressing portion of the opening/closing guide member.
Furthermore, according to the invention, there is provided a nail supplying mechanism, wherein the pressing portion is divided into a pressing member which comes in contact with the nail shank of the connected nail assembly and presses the connected nail assembly to the fixed guide surface and a head-supporting member for supporting the nail heads of the second connected nail assembly when engaging the under side of the nail heads of the second connected nail assembly, and wherein an operation stroke of the head-supporting member moving to the fixed guide surface is restrictively selected, and a slanted guide surface is provided above the nail heads of the first and second connected nail assemblies loaded, and wherein when the second connected nail assembly is pressed and moved to the fixed guide surface, the support of the under side of the nail heads by the head-supporting member is removed, and the connected nail assembly is guided downward by the slanted guide surface.
Further, to achieve the above third object, there is provided a connected nail supplying mechanism. In the connected nail supplying mechanism, a magazine includes a nail guide surface which is continuous to a nail introducing opening and a shoulder for supporting the nail heads of the connected nail assembly, and is loaded with a plurality of connected nail assemblies in a state that the connected nail assemblies are disposed in side-by-side relation along the nail guide surface while being in contact with each other. A movable guide wall having a pressing portion for pressing the connected nail assembly against the nail guide surface is confronted with the nail guide surface of the magazine. A cutout is formed in a guide wall of the magazine, while extending from the rear end of the magazine to be loaded with the connected nail assembly to a nail ejection opening.
In the connected nail supplying mechanism, a recess is formed in the nail guide surface of the magazine, while extending from the rear end to the magazine, and the user may insert his finger into the recess. Therefore, even the connected nail assembly whose length is short may be pushed into the inner part of the magazine.